A counting game for preschoolers, with a hungry caterpillar
Saying one to ten is not the same as counting ten things. This game helps your child make that step, one tapped apple at a time.
What your child learns: one number for each thing
Many children can recite the numbers early. Counting real things is harder. Your child has to say the numbers in order and give each thing exactly one number. Then they need to know that the last number tells how many.
These are kindergarten goals in the United States, and the game builds each one. In Count and tap, every apple gets a number badge and cannot be counted twice. At the end, the game says the total out loud.
Other screens connect the same amount in different forms: fingers, dots, the written number and the number word. Your child also traces the numbers 0 to 10 and sees that many apples appear.
Zero gets its place too. In the number book and when tracing, your child learns that zero means none at all, like an empty plate.
Why we made this game
Young children love the question "How many?" They ask it about candles, stairs and cookies. They count with great energy, sometimes skipping one or counting another twice.
We wanted a game that gently catches those slips. If your child taps an apple that is already counted, it shakes, and the voice asks for one without a number.
We also wanted fingers to be welcome. A long-term study found that young children who counted on their fingers later did better at adding. So the game shows numbers on hands too.
Finally, we scattered the things on the screen instead of lining them up. US kindergarten standards expect children to count up to 10 things in a scattered group, so every tap takes a little care.
What children love about it
The caterpillar steals the show. In Feed the caterpillar, it asks for a number of apples, and your child drags them into its mouth.
Give it one too many, and it giggles, "That tickles!" and gives one back. It is a funny way to learn that too many is not the answer.
In the quiz, every right answer earns an apple. At the end, the caterpillar eats them one by one while counting, and with eight or more it turns into a butterfly.
The dots screen has its own small joy. Your child can draw a line with a finger from a number to the card with that many dots.
- Tapping the caterpillar on the start screen for a trick and a number fact
- A number book with one nose, four cat legs and eight octopus arms
- Memory with a number and a card that shows that many things
How to play it together
Count out loud with your child for the first rounds, touching the screen together. Slow down at the end and ask, "So how many are there?"
In the fingers screen, hold up your own hands too. Show six as a full hand and one more, just like the game says it.
After playing, let your child be the caterpillar's helper at the table. Ask for four grapes or three spoons and count them together.
Let a mistake happen now and then. When the caterpillar gets too many apples, ask, "How many did it want? How many did it get?" That small talk turns a slip into a counting lesson.